Reversible Destiny Lofts

[GomiGirl]

The Discomforts of Home
"An innovative new housing project outside Tokyo aims to keep residents sharp by throwing them off balance. Duck! "
Dec. 19, 2005 Newsweek via MSNBC...

But I first spotted on this site - my new fave site - The Cool Hunter

Most people, in choosing a new home, look for comfort: a serene atmosphere, smooth walls and floors, a logical layout. Nonsense, says Shusaku Arakawa, a Japanese artist based in New York. He and his creative partner, poet Madeline Gins, recently unveiled a small apartment complex in the Tokyo suburb of Mitaka that is anything but comfortable and calming. "People, particularly old people, shouldn't relax and sit back to help them decline," he insists. "They should be in an environment that stimulates their senses and invigorates their lives."

With that in mind, Arakawa and Gins designed a building of nine apartments known as Reversible Destiny Lofts. Painted in eye-catching blue, pink, red, yellow and other bright colors, the building resembles the indoor playgrounds that attract toddlers at fast-food restaurants. Inside, each apartment features a dining room with a grainy, surfaced floor that slopes erratically, a sunken kitchen and a study with a concave floor. Electric switches are located in unexpected places on the walls so you have to feel around for the right one. A glass door to the veranda is so small you have to bend to crawl out. You constantly lose balance and gather yourself up, grab onto a column and occasionally trip and fall. Even worse, there's no closet space; residents will have to find a way to live there, since the apartment offers only a few solutions. "You'll learn to figure it out," says Arakawa. Ten minutes of stumbling around is enough to send even the healthiest young person over the edge. Arakawa says that's precisely the point. "[The apartment] makes you alert and awakens instincts, so you'll live better, longer and even forever," says the artist. more...

My personal fave line...

"It will be a revolution," says Arakawa. "This will change the way people live." That is, assuming people don't mind living with sloping floors and no closets.

[Mulboyne]

The article didn't mention that his designs are "In Memory of Helen Keller"

[homesweethome]

we can't help but wanting to stick the designer in there when he is 93 years old and see how he copes

[GomiGirl]

Originally Posted by Mulboyne

The article didn't mention that his designs are "In Memory of Helen Keller"

So they design obstacle course apartments in memory of a blind person - that is irony at its finest...

It would be kinda fun to live in one though. The photos look really interesting.

[dimwit]

My guess about Arakawa-san's inspiration.

[Taro Toporific]

Here's a few photos of it on flickr.


http://flickr.com/photos/1217microgr...n/photostream/